Thursday, February 16, 2012

Finland - Kemi

View of Kemi, Finland.

sent by Airi, a postcrosser from Kemi, Finland.

This is from Wikipedia : Kemi (Northern Sami: Giepma) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located very near the city of Tornio. It was founded in 1869 by royal decree, because of its proximity to a deep water harbour.

Kemi is situated by the Bothnian Bay, at the mouth of river Kemijoki, and it is part of Lapland region. The town has a population of 22,579 (31 January 2011) and covers an area of 747.44 square kilometres (288.59 sq mi) of which 652.1 km2 (251.8 sq mi) is water. The population density is 236.83 inhabitants per square kilometre (613.4 /sq mi).

The main economic activity in Kemi is centred on two large paper and woodpulp mills and on the only chromium mine in Europe (which supplies the Outokumpu ferrochrome plant in Tornio). A polytechnic university is also situated in Kemi.

Kemi also has a claim to fame as the home of the world's largest snow castle (reconstructed every year with a different architecture). The snowcastle is usually located at the inner harbour of Kemi.

A model of The Crown of Finland (original was never made for the King of Finland) is kept in the Gemstone gallery. There are also replicas like the Imperial State Crown of Great Britain; the Sceptre of the Czar of Russia; Orbs of Denmark and the Diamond necklace of Marie Antoinette among other things.

While welcoming any postcards from countries not in my collections, we are currently concentrating on getting postcards (stamped and postmarked) from the following countries/states/territories/regions/themes :